By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Since its inception in 2000, the West Michigan Strategic Alliance has worked with eight West Michigan counties to promoting the philosophy that all sectors can, and should, work together as to promote the region. Initiatives such as Clean Cities, Green Infrastructure, Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED), the Internship Portal and others have effectively gotten leaders in the region to adopt a regional mindset.
Competing as a region is the next step.
“Nothing in the state approaches business and the economy across the scope that we are,” says Greg Northrop, president. “Some are collaborating within local governments, but we are across all sectors; universities, employers, businesses, nonprofits, government units. In the internship sector (Internship Portal) we’re dealing with the issue of how to retain young people, not just dealing with one university working to help place students."
Northrup presents his ideas during a roundtable discussion today at the University of Michigan Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.
“We’re competing with the Milwaukees, Austins, and Portlands (Oregon) of the world as regional economies,” Northrup says. “As a region we’re a smorgasbord of options with strong urban areas that offer opportunities for work and to take advantage of culture, and access to the environment, be it Lake Michigan or canoeing on a nearby river.”
Northup says people live regionally. For example, they may work in Grand Rapids but live in Holland, or they go to church in Lowell but live in Saranac.
“We don’t live in a silo; our communication capabilities help us understand new options and new ways to do things. West Michigan is more valuable [in the marketplace] because we have a strong network in place
“The WMSA database has over 5,000 people and 300 partners; if a company is interested in the environment, economic development or green infrastructure, we can steer them to the right people to do work across all those sectors.”
Source: Greg Northrup, West Michigan Strategic Alliance
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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